Carlos Yulo did not have much time to savor his first Asian Games gold.
Less than 24 hours after finally winning the title that had eluded him since his first Asian Games appearance in 2018, the Filipino gymnastics star was back on the competition floor Friday — and back on top.
Yulo added a second gold medal by winning the men’s vault at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, giving the Philippines both of its gold medals in the Games so far.
The two-time Olympic champion posted an average of 14.599 points from two vaults, scoring 14.733 on his first attempt and 14.466 on his second.
Iran’s Mahdi Olfati settled for silver with 14.533, while Hong Kong’s Ka Ki Ng took bronze with 14.116.
For Yulo, the back-to-back victories brought back memories of his golden run at the Paris Olympics in 2024, where he also won gold in the floor exercise and vault.
But this Asian Games campaign started with a different kind of motivation.
Yulo was only 18 when he competed at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. He entered the floor exercise final with high expectations but fell during his routine and finished seventh.
Eight years later, he returned to the Asian Games floor with a much longer résumé — including two Olympic gold medals and three world championships.
On Thursday, he finally got the Asian Games gold he had been waiting for.
“It feels like the Olympics,” Yulo said after winning the floor exercise.
The victory carried memories of Jakarta, but Yulo said his performance was not exactly the routine he had envisioned.
“Well, that’s not the routine I wanted,” he said.
Still, he found a way to recover and finish strong.
“I gave my best. I have no regrets at all,” Yulo said. “My performance was the best I could give today.”
That mindset carried into Friday.
Yulo faced immediate pressure in the vault final.
Olfati opened with a huge 15.100 on his first attempt, putting the Filipino in a position where he could not afford a major mistake.
But Olfati struggled on his second vault, scoring 13.966.
Yulo, meanwhile, delivered two solid attempts to secure the gold.
The victory gave him his second Asian Games title in as many days and once again paired the floor exercise and vault crowns — the same two events in which he triumphed in Paris.
Yulo, however, did not complete a golden sweep of his apparatus finals.
He finished fourth in the parallel bars final after scoring 14.300 on a 5.6 difficulty.
He was the second performer in the final.
After winning his first gold Thursday, Yulo made sure to share the moment with the people who helped him reach it.
In a Facebook post, he thanked God for the blessings and challenges he experienced on the way to Japan.
“Thank you, Lord, sa lahat ng biyaya at mga pagsubok na binibigay mo po. Hindi magiging posible lahat ng ’to kung hindi dahil po sa inyo, Lord God (Thank you, Lord, for all the blessings and challenges You give. None of this would have been possible without You, Lord God),” Yulo said in an interview with the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) media pool.
He admitted that the road to the Asian Games had not been easy.
“Hindi naging madali ang mga na-experience ko bago makarating dito sa Japan at habang nandito sa Asian Games, kaya sobrang natutuwa po ako na nasungkit natin ang gintong medalya (What I experienced before arriving in Japan and while here at the Asian Games was not easy, so I am extremely happy that we were able to win the gold medal),” he said.
Yulo thanked the Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Sports Commission, and Cynthia Carrion for their support, along with his coaches Aldrin Pacheco, Bethel Pacheco, and Adrian Lico, and teammate Josh.
He also thanked his girlfriend, Chloe Anjeleigh San Jose, for continually encouraging him.
“Thank you, mahal ko, sa palaging pagpapalakas ng loob at patuloy na pag-push sa akin para mas lalo ko pang galingan at mas mahalin yung ginagawa ko inside and outside ng karera na (Thank you, my love, for always encouraging me and continuing to push me to do better and love what I do even more, inside and outside this career),” he added.
And he remembered those who prayed for him.
“At siyempre, sa lahat po ng mga prayer warriors ko, maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat (And, of course, to all my prayer warriors, thank you very much to all of you),” Yulo said.
Yulo’s two gold medals have already made him one of the central figures of the Philippine campaign in Nagoya.
But perhaps the most meaningful part of his Asian Games journey is how quickly the story changed.
A competition that began with memories of a painful fall in Jakarta has turned into a golden double.
The floor exercise title gave Yulo the redemption he had been waiting for.
The vault gold showed that he was not finished.
And even after missing the podium in parallel bars, Yulo leaves the apparatus finals with two Asian Games titles — and another chapter added to an already remarkable career.
For a gymnast who once left the Asian Games floor in Jakarta with disappointment, Nagoya has given Yulo something very different to take home:
Two gold medals, and a reminder that some victories take years to arrive. MLSA WITH PSC MEDIA POOL